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Automakers, Refiners Lose Challenge to E15

NACS Online
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The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit has dismissed the challenges brought forth by trade associations representing automakers, refiners and other industries on the Environmental Protection Agency’s E15 waiver, saying that the groups did not have a legal right to challenge the EPA decision.

In 2010, EPA issued a partial waiver that allows for the use of E15 in vehicles manufacture during or after model year 2007. In 2011, EPA expanded authorized use of E15 to include model year 2001 and later vehicles.

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), one of the groups that challenged the EPA’s E15 waiver, maintains that the court’s decision puts consumers at risk.

“AFPM members want to ensure that all fuels sold into commerce are safe for consumers, effectiv

IF an engine is set up for E10, E15, E85, or straight Ethanol, there's nothing wrong with the stuff at all. NASCAR has been using 100% for a long time now, biggest problem is for Fire crews cause it's invisible when burning in sunlight; The fire crews have been taught to watch the driver & car: If there's bubbling paint, hose it with water & it's out; If the driver is patting their leg or somewhere else, hose the area with water & they're out. No prob. IF an engine is NOT set up for it, you'll have problems. If your fuel tank is plastic, the car/truck has been set up for it; IF the tank is steel, don't use it unless you're going to go thru almost all of it pretty fast, or you'll end up having to drain the water out of the bottom of the tank, & since tanks haven't had bottom-drains for a very long time now, then use whatever your car or truck is set up for. I have a big RV (Class-A, the ones that look like a bus), and unfortunately, it runs gas, not diesel. It has a steel tank, but there's a drain plug in the bottom, & instructions in the Owners Manual telling you exactly what kinds of mixes you should & shouldn't use. I put gas in it with stabilizer when I'm not sure I'm going to run it nearly empty & then fill it up again. If I'm taking it someplace, I use E10 or whatever is cheapest, since I'm going to run it almost dry, & the thing drinks fuel like a kid drinks soda-pop. The engine is an '88-'89 HD Ford 460 in a John Deere chassis, & it really doesn't care what I put in it, as long as the stuff burns. It's rated as a "Heavy Duty Truck" chassis, no cat converter, no nothing except evaporative cannisters, & I've got two of them; Anything over 61 gallons is too much for just one, & my tank holds 90 gal. It doesn't ping or knock on anything I can find to run it on, E-whatever or not. It doesn't like E-85 because it has to be re-tuned for it, and I can't reach the adjustments, they crammed that big V8 in there with a shoehorn. The biggest problem with Ethanol is making it from corn; Corn is for food, use what's left over for making ethanol, since any vegetable matter will make decent ethanol, but don't waste good food by using it to make fuel, it's just common sense. If I can ever find a Cummins engine & Allison DT-465 trans for it, I'll switch it out; or if I can find an older Freightliner or Kenworth, etc., those powertrains will fit too, & I don't mind shifting a gear or three to get better mileage. I'm not a big fan of "diesel pushers", just because if my co-driver wants to take a nap, & there's a safety net on the bed, they're laying on top of a noisy, hot engine, that's why I want it up front, since the driver is awake anyway. One old trucker's trick was to mix a gallon of gasoline with each 60-gallons of #2 diesel to clean the injectors; An old VW-owner's trick was to pour a quart of #2 diesel down the carb while making sure they didn't kill the engine with it, to clean the valves. (Either way, we made sure there was at least 40k miles on the engine before doing either one, since there's no need if it's got less mileage than 40k on it.) Where I live, (S. Nebraska), unless the car or truck doesn't "like" E10, everyone uses it, because it's 10-cents a gallon cheaper, & hybrids out here are pretty much useless, since everything is so spread out. And, for what it's worth: If you need Diesel, get it at a truck stop, where it's cheaper; Gas is cheaper in town, diesel is cheaper at a truck stop.Drive Gently!

Go ahead, put E10 and E15 side by side and SEE which one is chosen. Put 100% gas out there with no ethanol at all and I think the EPA might be surprised with what the consumer picks! I dare you to give us all three choices.

Bad pure gasoline does far more damage than E15. Just think back to the 50's, 60's, and 70's where almost all gas was sold ethanol free. People paid a lot to add alcohol (at $4-10/gal for alcohol when gasoline prices were well under $1/gal retail) to their tank to get rid of condensation problems during the winter and in high humidity areas. A little water in the gas destroys engines due to hydro-lock. Stale "pure" gas is just as destructive as gum and varnish causes carburetors too run far too lean which leads to detonation and eventual engine destruction. They can also cause the float to stick open which causes hydro-lock with liquid gasoline as the agent. E15 can run a whole lot leaner without detonation than "pure" gasoline. It also cleans out gum and varnish from jets both in carburetors and fuel injectors.